Chapter 17 THE SHIFTER PRISON

Kevin sat in Derik’s car, waiting for him to come out of the TCU laboratory building. Felt like an hour since Derik left, leaving him to wait in his car. The temperature inside the car was getting hotter with every passing second as sun rose in the sky. The scourging heat penetrated the windows, causing his skin to blister.

Kevin was feeling uncomfortable, not from the desiccating heat, but from sitting in one place for such a long time. He stole a quick glance at his watch. That’s when he realized he had been waiting for too long.

Kevin glanced out the window, frustration making his veins swell. He wondered what’s keeping Derik. Wanted to get out of the car to go in search of him inside the TCU building, but stopped when he remembered his warning to stay put.

Kevin returned in the car, entertaining himself with his cell phone, when suddenly he heard noises outside. From behind the car window, he could see a little girl being dragged by two armed men.

The men dragging her didn’t seem to care that she was crying as they hauled her behind. The little girl appeared to be in her early puberty stage. She was cuffed on both hands and feet, wailing as she followed them—not of her own will.

Kevin wondered what crime an innocent girl like that could have possibly committed. He swallowed hard when he saw Lawrence following them behind with his hands folded behind his back, inspecting as the little girl was being dragged along. He immediately understood.

She is a shifter.

Kevin’s face lit with recognition as they drew nearer. “Ashley.” he blinked in surprised, eyes fixed on the girl.

The memories of when he’d first met her flooded his subconscious. Ashley had come to him in the park, begging for alms, but he harshly turned her away. Kevin was glad he didn’t help her back then, otherwise she would have ended up dead like everyone else who had gotten close to him.

Nonetheless, Kevin felt a prickle in his stomach as he watched the men drag her mercilessly along the asphalt. They were definitely not going to let her live; he knew. They would burn her to the stake, just as they did to every other shifter they capture.

Kevin stepped out of the car and followed them to see where they were taking her. He hid himself behind buildings and vehicles to avoid being spotted. Watched from a hidden corner as the men dragged Ashley into a battered building that seemed to look like a prison house where they held shifters.

He ran and stood by the window to peep inside the building, keeping his head low. His eyes widened as he took in the sight of a hundred of prisoners that were locked up in little, dark cages. Shifters.

Lawrence had already caught a great deal of shifters within a week of his stay in the city, and Kevin wondered how he’d done this. He watched as the men threw Ashley into a special section of the prison. She was caged in alone.

His eyes darted in all directions, searching for Lawrence. Found him standing over the counter, taking to the prison warden. Lawrence suddenly turned to look at the window—in his direction. Gasping, Kevin quickly lowered his head, leaning his back against the wall. He was careful not to give himself away by making a sound.

Lawrence stared too long at the window, his eyes held a suspicious gleam. A wrinkle creased his brow when he heard footsteps outside. Then he sauntered towards the window for a quick glance outside. Peeking through the window, he found nothing outside. His brows drew together.

Kevin stood behind the building, pressing his back to the clobbered walls, his chest heaving rapidly. Several bones lying on the ground in a region that was completely charred caught his attention.

He observed several human skeletal bones laying at the corner. Realized those were the remains of the shifters that had already been burnt to the stake. He knew the same fate would befall every captive that’d been held in that room—including Ashley.

I would also end up this way if I don’t get out of here.

Kevin made a run for it, keeping his head low to avoid being spotted as he returned to the car. Running across the tarmac, head bent low as though he was sneaking, he was suddenly hit by a realization—T-Rex is just waiting for the right time or place to kidnap Natasha.

He didn’t know why the thought suddenly came to him at that moment, but it made perfect sense. T-Rex is waiting for the perfect moment to kidnap Natasha—that’s why he’d intentionally failed to kidnap her twice. His spirits sank when the next question surfaced.

When is the perfect moment?

The answer evaded him. He played every possible scenario that might lead to Natasha’s kidnap, but all seemed unlikely. Kevin, lost in deep thought, didn’t realize Derik was standing in front of him beside his car. An unpleasant glare had settled on his feature.

Derik shot him a venomous glance. “I thought I’d asked you to wait in the car. It’s dangerous out here. Do you know what will happen if Lawrence sees you? He will sniff you right away.”

“I just found the building where he holds shifters captive. There is an innocent little girl in there, and …”

“… and you will stay away from that building if you don’t want to end up like them.” Derik cut him off. “Now get in.”

Derik pulled up in front of a Porsche. The sorry engine wheezed its death cough as they came to a stop at the side of the two-lane tar road. He glanced through the window at a cottage far across the road.

“Is this it?” a husky voice spoke from behind.

Derik raised his head to meet William’s gaze through the rear mirror. “Apparently, this is it.” he replied, glancing at his GPS just to be sure. “It says here 44 Rashbrow Street.”

It was a big, modern home spread across a wide green lawn. The facade was adorned with hedges and leafy trees. And at the side was a sweat smelling rose garden.

Derik was taken aback by how normal the whole environment seemed. Maybe too normal. The facade seemed to conceal the horror that lingered inside that perfectly normal apartment.

Climbing out of the car, William snarled at the building. “Let’s go find this son of a…” he walked towards the building ahead of everyone that was with him.

Several armed men followed him behind, barely able to keep up with his swift strides. Reaching the door, one of the men quickly raised his feet to knock down the door, but Derik stopped him.

“Check the doors for bombs.” he cautioned. “We could be walking right into a trap.”

The man fired at the door handle and forcefully kicked the door open. He rushed into the high-ceilinged living room with a fire burning in the fireplace, pointing his gun at every corner. There was no one inside. But Derik knew better than to let his guard down.

He looked behind the doors; across all corners; at the ceiling, searching for any sign of a bomb. Found none. He panicked a little at the fetor of blood that filled the air, then signalled to the rest of the men to come in. They swarmed into the room at his signal.

“Check the room on the left,” Derik commanded in a hushed voice. “I will check the one on the right.”

At once, they all spilt in a different direction to search the cottage. Derik cautiously approached the door to his right, gun at ready, reaching for the door handle. He found that it was locked from behind.

Moving back few paces, he fired upon the door handle and kicked it open, then dived into the room, pointing his gun in every direction, but there was nothing in there. The room was completely empty with just a single window that allowed light to sneak in. His gun lowered to his side.

“Sir,” A voice called out from the other room. “You need to see this.”

Derik gulped hard as he ran out of the room into the room where he had heard the voice. Stopped at the door when he saw William, grief-stricken, kneeling before a naked female.

An intense feeling of revulsion grew within him as he took in sight of a tortured feminine body lying on the table. And when his gaze reached up to her face, he bristled at what he saw. Eyes widened and jaw went slack when he recognized her. The woman in the picture. William’s wife. Mrs. Elena mattinez.

“Oh, no…” he mouthed, heart throbbing within his chest. He felt what little was left of his energy ebb away, and the gun fell from his grip.

Elena lay on her back, both hands and feet strapped to the table. A freaky smile plastered on her lips as her lifeless eyes stared into the ceiling. Her chest had been torn open and her heart hung out. Her body had several cuts and bruises.

Derik returned his gaze to the table. The enormous amount of blood that had pool beneath the lifeless body caught his eyes. He neared for a closer look. Reaching the table and standing beside William, he dipped a finger into the blood and inspected it.

“It wasn’t long ago this happened.” he scrutinized. “Her blood still looks fresh. She couldn’t have been lying here for more than ten hours—a day at most.”

William remained motionless as he stared wordlessly at Elena’s tortured body. A whimper suddenly escaped his lips, but it ceased after a fraction of a second. Then his forehead dropped onto her cold and bruised arm, leaving patches of blood on his face.

Derik had expected him to cry, but he remained stoic. Not unemotional, but controlled. William’s eyes were caught by the ID card worn around Elena’s neck. She had officially been welcomed into the police department. And barely few hours after she had received her badge of recognition, her life ended painfully.

William turned to his side and glare at Derik with puffy, reddened eyes. “I will find the bastard that did her in, and when I do, I will rip his heart right off his chest.” he muttered under his breath.

Derik could only watch in silence as William directed his stabbing gaze at him. “I will find every single one of your kind, if it be the death of me. I won’t rest until I watch you all burn. And when this is all over, you too will burn along with them. This, I promise you.”

William walked past him and disappeared through the door without so much as a backward glance. Derik had never heard him take that tone before, and he knew without any doubt that William’s threat to him weren’t a bluff.